01Tower Hamlets, London
Listed building consent drawings in Tower Hamlets
In Tower Hamlets a listed building can also sit inside a conservation area, and an Article 4 direction may cover the same street. We survey the building as it stands, then draw each proposed change against what is original, so the officer can see the harm, the benefit and the minimum work.
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02The brief
The test written into the Local Plan
The council's heritage policy sits in the Tower Hamlets Local Plan 2031: Managing Growth and Sharing the Benefits, adopted in 2020. It lets alterations, extensions or a change of use to a heritage asset go ahead only if they safeguard significance, covering setting, fabric and identity as well as the building itself.
The same policy asks every applicant to show how the proposal contributes to conservation, and where harm is unavoidable it expects harm justified by public benefit and no more work than is needed. Our drawings are built to that wording: existing and proposed on matching sheets, with the retained fabric marked. The full route is on the listed building consent drawings hub.
03The record
Local figures for Tower Hamlets
| Measure | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alterations, extensions or change of use to heritage assets permitted only if significance, setting, fabric and identity are safeguarded | safeguard significance | No period | towerhamlets.gov.uk, Tower Hamlets Local Plan 2031 (adopted January 2020), Policy S.DH3 part 2, p.48-49 |
| Applications must show how proposal contributes to conservation; harm justified by public benefits and minimum necessary works | harm justified by public benefit | No period | towerhamlets.gov.uk, Tower Hamlets Local Plan 2031 (adopted January 2020), Policy S.DH3 part 3 |
| NPPF Aug 2026, policy HE5(1) | Proposals affecting heritage assets need an assessment of significance (including setting) proportionate to the asset's importance | No period | gov.uk |
| NPPF Aug 2026, policy HE6(1) | Substantial weight to the conservation of designated heritage assets | No period | gov.uk |
| Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 s9(1), s9(4) | Works without consent: up to 6 months' imprisonment or a fine on summary conviction; up to 2 years or a fine on indictment | No period | legislation.gov.uk |
| Concessions: application types with no current fee - Listed Building Consent | 0 GBP | No period | ribblevalley.gov.uk |
| Listed building entries | 916 list entries (Historic England, within the LPA boundary) | No period | planning.data.gov.uk |
| Grade I listed entries | 21 list entries | No period | planning.data.gov.uk |
| Grade II* listed entries | 39 list entries | No period | planning.data.gov.uk |
| Conservation areas | 59 named conservation areas published by the council | No period | planning.data.gov.uk |
| Article 4 directions | 64 Article 4 directions published by the council | No period | planning.data.gov.uk |
| Heritage at Risk entries | 39 Heritage at Risk Register entries within the LPA boundary (Historic England) | No period | planning.data.gov.uk |
| Listed building consent decisions (PS2) | 159 listed building consent decisions (to alter or extend) | 2025 Q2 to 2026 Q1 (1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2026) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| Listed building consents granted (PS2) | 89.3 % granted | 2025 Q2 to 2026 Q1 (1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2026) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
A blank value means the figure has not been published, not that there are none. Check your own address with the council.
04The drawing
The listed building consent route
How works to a listed building are consented, from the first survey to the decision.
- A What the council weighs
- Proposals affecting heritage assets need an assessment of significance (including setting) proportionate to the asset's importance
- B The weight given to conservation
- Substantial weight to the conservation of designated heritage assets
- C Tower Hamlets: consents decided
- 159 listed building consent decisions (to alter or extend)
- D Tower Hamlets: consents granted
- 89.3 % granted
- E Works without consent
- Works without consent: up to 6 months' imprisonment or a fine on summary conviction; up to 2 years or a fine on indictment
05The detail
Listed entries, grade by grade
Tower Hamlets has 916 entries on the national list, among them 21 at Grade I, 39 at Grade II* and 845 at Grade II. Within the borough, 39 entries appear on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register, and 2 World Heritage Sites reach into the borough.
Only 12% of households here live in a house or bungalow, so we expect to meet listed flats often. A flat is part of a larger listed building, which is why our survey covers the structure around it and the drawings show your flat in that context.
Layers of control around the listing
The council publishes 59 conservation areas and 64 Article 4 directions. A listed building inside one of them can need listed building consent for the building, and planning permission for work that would otherwise be permitted development. These are separate applications, so we map both before any design starts.
The same check turns up the rest of the heritage picture: 10 scheduled monuments and 5 registered parks and gardens also intersect the borough.
Past decisions, fee and enforcement
Over the most recent year of published returns the council decided 159 listed building consent applications to alter or extend and granted 89.3% of them. That describes what happened to other applications; it says nothing certain about yours. The national fee table sets the consent itself at £0, so there is no council fee to pay.
Works without consent: up to 6 months' imprisonment or a fine on summary conviction; up to 2 years or a fine on indictment. Whether the work is internal joinery or a new rear opening, we draw to be approved, and we redraw free if officers ask for changes.
When the same building needs a roof or a lower floor
Roof alterations usually need planning permission as well, and at least one of the borough's conservation area appraisals takes a firm view of them: see mansard roof drawings in Tower Hamlets. Excavation raises party wall and drainage questions covered under basement conversion drawings in Tower Hamlets.
06The papers
What the drawings rest on
Architectural design
07Correspondence
Questions
What does Tower Hamlets expect to see with a listed building application?
It expects proof that the work will safeguard significance and a showing of how the scheme contributes to conservation, with any harm backed by harm justified by public benefit. We prepare the existing and proposed drawings to answer both.
Does a listed flat need consent for changes inside?
Usually yes, if the change affects the character of the listed building, including interiors. Send us the address and we check the list entry, then confirm the route before you commit to a design.
What happens if work has already started without consent?
Works without consent: up to 6 months' imprisonment or a fine on summary conviction; up to 2 years or a fine on indictment. If that has happened, tell us before anything else is built, and we will advise on regularising it.
89.3%
granted
Listed building consents granted (PS2), Tower Hamlets, 2025 Q2 to 2026 Q1 (1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2026). Source: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
08Further reading
Related pages
Other services in Tower Hamlets
Listed building consent drawings nearby
09Sources
Sources and dates
- towerhamlets.gov.uk, retrieved
- gov.uk, retrieved
- legislation.gov.uk, retrieved
- ribblevalley.gov.uk, retrieved
- planning.data.gov.uk, retrieved
- planning.data.gov.uk, retrieved
- planning.data.gov.uk, retrieved
- planning.data.gov.uk, retrieved
- assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, retrieved
- towerhamlets.gov.uk, retrieved
- planning.data.gov.uk, retrieved
- nomisweb.co.uk, retrieved
- planning.data.gov.uk, retrieved
- planning.data.gov.uk, retrieved
Licences
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
- Contains Historic England data © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Send us the address of your house.
We look up the conservation area, listing and Article 4 position, then reply with a fixed fee. A message before 3pm is answered the same working day.